The upside of Down
SOAD offers socially conscious music with a sense of humour
Mike Warkentin



You almost expect members of System of a Down to be deadly serious guys who constantly shift topics and speak in rapid-fire sentences that would rather die than taste punctuation.

That’s the impression given by the band’s albums, schizophrenic experiences that pull violently in a hundred directions. Frontman Serj Tankian fires off stream-of-consciousness lyrics overtop the frantic riffing of guitarist Daron Malakian. Bassist Shavo Odadjian and drummer John Dolmayan drunk-drive the mix by wildly navigating myriad changes in tempo and dynamics.

The California-based quartet of Armenian-Americans is also characterized by aggressive lyrics that provoke reactions and question modern society.

That’s why it’s surprising when Dolmayan sounds calm, relaxed and jovial when talking about System’s new album, Mezmerize. The first of two discs slated for release this year, the album dropped in May 2005 to fans who had been starving for new material since Toxicity ruled the charts in 2001. Steal This Album!, a compilation released in 2002, simply wasn’t enough for fans of Chop Suey and Aerials. The second 2005 disc, Hypnotize, is due out in November.

“A lot of things stand out about it,” Dolmayan says of the forthcoming release. “How can I explain it? If you have twins, they may look alike, y’know, but their personalities could be completely different. That’s how you could look at these albums. These albums are twins... but they each have their own personality.”

So what sort of personality will the album have?

“That’s a really good question,” the drummer says. “I don’t know how to describe that. That would take more thought than I have right now.”

Dolmayan’s answer is cryptic and coy and recalls the way other members of System handle questions. The songs simply are what they are, and they’re open to interpretation — just don’t ask the guys to do the work for you. You’re going to have to do some thinking for yourself.

When pressed further, Dolmayan does offer a few words about Mezmerize, a disc that has been drawing rave reviews from the music community for its innovative and imaginative hard rock style.

“Daron, who does the majority of our writing, obviously was affected by what was going on in the world,” Dolmayan says. “It was difficult not to be with 9/11. This is, like, five years in the making, these albums. Everything that’s happened in the last five years has deeply affected the mood and affected this album.”

The overall mood of the new release is absolutely frantic, and tracks such as BYOB and Cigaro blaze with thrashing speed at one moment before jarring almost to a halt and then continuing melodically. Then it’s back to the chaos of guitars and vocals.

Mezmerize is certainly a continuation of the old sound, but Malakian has stepped up to handle more of the vocals this time around, often harmonizing with Tankian and adding another layer to System’s onion. The result can be almost haunting in the melodic parts and grating in the aggressive moments.

“I think it’s kind of cool,” Dolmayan says of the dual vocalists. “One of the things I like most about The Beatles is that they had two or three singers at any certain time. And it was just more of a band as opposed to having dedicated roles, (where) he’s the drummer, he’s the bass player, he’s the singer. In this band, anybody can be anything — in fact, I’m playing harmonica on a couple of songs on this album.

“No. I’m just kidding.”

That said, Dolmayan isn’t really interested in talking about the lyrics and music Tankian and Malakian come up with.

“Unfortunately for them, because they write a lot of the lyrics, they’re usually asked very serious questions, but there’s a very funny side to both of them that people should try to explore more,” he says, adding that Odadjian is probably the funniest member of the group while Tankian drops the most “duds.”

If it seems as though the drummer is playful today, he explains that System is often labelled as an ultra-serious band when they are just four guys having fun.

It’s hard to see that side of a group that often cries out for social justice and an end to violence and genocide. Then there’s those lines about sodomy in Violent Pornography...

“Keep in mind we’re just regular people. We’re four guys who play rock music, and for reason some people think that our opinion matters,” the drummer says. “The bottom line is we’re out there playing music and we’re having a good time. Definitely we get deep — but sometimes we don’t.”

Fans planning to catch System having fun onstage can expect the group to play over and an hour and a half on a stage that features “lots of mirrors.” All the band’s recordings will be represented, and Dolmayan says even a few tracks from Hypnotize will find their way into the set. He also says the band has done something special for the Winnipeg date.

“We pulled the stage back and released some really cool tickets...” he says. “What we do is for every show we leave some space, and if the show’s doing really well and the people are going nuts in that city we’ll pull the stage further back, which releases new tickets really close to the stage that weren’t available before. We don’t do it everywhere. We’ve only done it, like, two or three times on this tour.”

When asked about the rest of the stage set-up, Dolmayan demurs — but does say there won’t be any pyro.

“I won’t allow fire around me. I can’t risk that shit. We’re Armenian, man. We’re all hairy guys. You get fire going on — one of us catches fire (and) that’s it. It’s done. We’re done. It could take the whole band down in one fuzz ball.”

And there’s that funny side again.

For more info see our What’s Up entertainment listings.